Wikipedia:WikiProject Christianity/Outreach/October 2013



From the Editor October headlines...

Church of the month Wells Cathedral was this month promoted to GA status. Rodw has appealed for any help project members can give to improve this article for a FA nomination.

Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 363 active members. We would like to welcome our newest members,Pleonic, MJWilliams1998, Iloilo Wanderer, Jkadavoor,Sir Ian and McBenjamin. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. We would be able to achieve nothing here without the input of all of you. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

Focus on... THE HISTORICAL JESUS

What about ancient sources that relate to Jesus? What Jewish and Roman sources mention him? Josephus on Jesus and Tacitus on Christ articles provide information on the two main non-Christian sources. Mara Bar-Serapion's references is generally seen as having less value on its own, like that of Suetonius; but these two combine with other information to contribute to the study of the historical Jesus.

The overwhelming majority of scholars hold that Josephus made a reference to Jesus, specially where he refers to the death of James. Most scholars also hold that the Josephus passage called the Testimonium Flavianum refers to the crucifixion of Jesus, but the majority is not staggering like the other case.

Scholars also generally consider Tacitus' reference to the execution of Jesus by Pontius Pilate to be both authentic, and of historical value as an independent Roman source. Thus these sources work together, along with the gospel accounts to establish that the crucifixion of Jesus by Pilate was a historical event with a very high degree of certainty. Given the combination of these sources, almost all scholars hold that Jesus was crucified by Pilate.

From the bookshelf Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee by Mark Powell ISBN 0664257038

In this book Mark Allan Powell not only discusses the ancient sources that relate to Jesus but provides a critique of the work of the key scholars who have contributed to the subject.

Did you know...
 * ... that on Friday and Saturday, December 11-12 2009, a record number of 6.1 million people visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, making it one of the most visited shrines in the world?

Calendar ...............

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